Just a quick update on my order. Ippodo answered my email and the reason why they haven't shipped it yet is because the EU has requested Japan to certificate that the products shipped were not produced in “the Listed Prefectures” near Fukushima nuclear power plant. Ippodo is trying to obtain that certificate right now.

Yes, the same thing happened to me when I ordered from Korea. It does take a week or two longer, which is a little frustrating especially considering that it kind of defeats the purpose of having to pay for EMS shipping.

I haven't quite figured out why it is required though, since another Japanese tea vendor I ordered from did not have to get the same certification. Either Ippodo is simply doing their business more cautiously or it is required because they blend their teas and need to prove that none of the blend comes from the restricted areas....I have no idea to be honest. Anyway, with that in mind I simply place my orders a couple weeks early.

Drax wrote:"Everything" shuts down in Japan during Golden Week, which was last week. You should see them come back to life shortly...

drax, a week ago i would have said the same thing but on a different vendor's site i read this:"Due to the Golden Week holidays, our shipping department in Uji will be closed from May 3 until May 7(Japan time). Orders received during this period will be shipped on May 8. Thank you for your kind understanding in this regard. The shipping department in Yame, Kagoshima and Shizuoka operate as usual (Monday to Friday)."i am very curious. are traditions changing in Japan that GW is not always a week off? or have these regions always been different. not a tea nor ippodo related post but this information has left me very curious.

Good question... from what I understand, it's up to individual companies to decide what to do during Golden Week, so it wouldn't be surprising to see different things happen... buuuut, it does seem odd in this case to have different things within the same company (or maybe because they're different shipping departments, that accounts for it?).

As another example, I was surprised that "katsuragi" (a prodigious eBay vendor) continued throughout the period, still posting new items every day.

I think somebody living in Japan will have to provide deeper insight on the intricacies of Golden Week...

I'm intrigued too (as I always am) . As far as I know, O-cha and Hibiki takes orders and ships every day of the year...so either their staff don't have GW, or Kevin and Mr. Yasui puts on super 1 man operations during GW? , I don't know. (Once I ordered from Hibiki on new year's eve not expecting it to be even noticed anytime soon. It was shipped promptly on New years day in less than 24 hours ...but I digress this is not a hibiki thread.)

I assumed since there was no notice, Ippodo must just be operating as usual, and placed my order not knowing it won't be shipped until almost a week later (gyo n matcha withdrawl ). So in my post above, I was meaning more that it would nice if Ippodo had put up something of a notice like the one from Zencha in rdl's post above.

Starting from this year, I've ordered tea twice from them. Very fast delivery to Chicago. No complaint about the appreciation of USDs recently. Good time to buy. The shipping is a little bit expensive. But it is a much better good deal overall than buying at US.